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Soldiers' rifles got clogged with the soft mud and some men and horses even drowned in it.

By the end, more than half a million people from both sides had lost their lives.

For many, the battle officially known as the Third Battle of Ypres, has come to symbolise the horror of the Great War.

As many as 28 men from Bristol died on the first day of the battle alone - some were as young as 19.

The names of those who lost their lives on this day are revealed in an exclusive Post analysis of data from the Commonwealth War Grave Commission.

It cannot be said for sure but it is highly likely that many if not all of them were killed on the battlefields of Flanders, Belgium.

However, despite the painstaking work that has been done to recover the names of all the fallen soldiers, they have not been able to record all of Britain’s war dead, meaning the true death toll for Bristol’s young men may be even higher than 28.

The youngest of these men included Private Albert Carter. His father John and mother Bessie lived on Church Road in Kingswood.

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Also aged 19 was Private Horace Brewer, whose family lived at 5 Somerset Cottages on Ship Lane in Redcliffe.

One of the more senior soldiers from Bristol to die that day was Captain William Paul. His wife lived at 16 Duchess Road in Clifton.

All three men are commemorated at the Menin Gate memorial in Belgium, which lists those who died with no known grave at Ypres.

Roll of Honour, Those from Bristol who died on July 31, 1917

1 / AMBROSE BODMAN - aged 19

2 / GEORGE H. BOWN - 37

3 / HORACE JAMES BREWER - 19

4 / ALBERT FRANCIS CARTER - 19

5 / ALBERT EDWARD CHILD - 38

6 / FREDERICK EDWIN JAMES CLARKE - 37

7 / HOWARD COOK - 21

8 / JOHN COSTIGAN - 28

9 / FREDERICK COULDREY - 32

10 / DAVID DUN - 32

11 / BERNARD ROY EDGAR - 20

12 / ARTHUR ALFRED GREEDY - 28

13 / LIONEL IGNATIUS LESLIE GRIFFIN - 31

14 / ARTHUR CHARLES JAMES HARRIS - 38

15 / WILLIAM JOHN HILLIER - 37

16 / ARTHUR W. JENKINS - 29

17 / A H KEW - 27

18 / WILLIAM ERNEST LUMBER - 22

19 / WILLIAM EDGAR PAUL - 43

20 / THOMAS ALBERT PHILLIPS - 34

21 / HENRY POWELL - 23

22 / JOHN HENRY CHARLES RAINS - 33

23 / ALBERT E. RICKETTS - 20

24 / EDWARD J. TOUT - 32

25 / THOMAS HENRY SHANK UPPINGTON - 21

26 / FREDERICK H. WARREN - 26

27 / WESLEY WHITFIELD WILTSHIRE - 19

28 / W H WINSTONE - 26

You can now delve into your family's First World War history by searching the records of more than a million World War One casualties.

Use our interactive database to search for people with the same name as you, who came from the same city; or just to see who died from the street where you live.

The database allows you to search by any combination of first name (or initial), surname, street or town/city to find. You do not have to fill in all the boxes - you can fill as many or as few as you like.

All information in the database has been gathered from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, who kindly allowed us to share the astonishingly rich data.